Chapter 56: You're Stalling

November 30, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Birgit

On Saturday morning, I won my first bout against a boy from Springfield and felt confident I could meet the challenge of the much taller boy from Sensei Sharon's dōjō. He had just barely scraped into the 'under eighteen' classification, as his birthday was on Monday. Two more days, and he would have had to compete in the college/young adult group or the 'open' classification, which determined the overall tournament champion.

My focus was on winning the under-eighteen championship, and to do that, I had to win against Kevin, who'd had his black belt since February. As I prepared, I had to stop myself from giggling when I thought about Dad and Aunt Jennifer using 'strip chess' to psych out their opponents. But if I said or did anything like that, and an official heard me, I'd be disqualified and in big trouble with Sensei Ichirō, which would make Dad very unhappy.

I took my place at the edge of the mat and waited to be called. My mom, my sisters, and Yuriko were all in attendance, along with most of Dad's students and several others from the dōjō. I was the only one left from our dōjō in the 'under-eighteen' group, and only Jacquelyn and Joleen were left in the 'open' group. The way the brackets worked, they would only have to face each other in the finals if they both made it.

My name was called, and I stepped forward to the center of the mat, clearing my mind and relaxing my muscles. Being tense was a sure way to lose because I was only going to win by being faster than Kevin. After Kevin was called, the referee reminded us of the rules, then put his hand between us, waited a few seconds, then called 'Begin!'.

One thing I couldn't do was get back to the edge of the mat, because that would make dodging or escaping almost impossible, so I sidestepped slightly, to limit Kevin's options for his right hand, as it would have to cross in front of his body. He copied my move a split second later, so I feinted right and sidestepped left, making it easy to block Kevin's first strike.

I prepared for the move Dad had taught me, and Kevin did exactly what I expected, so I quickly moved to a side stance, used my left arm to block away his right jab, and hit Kevin square in the chest with a back fist circular strike. He was surprised, so I took advantage and kicked him in the midsection, scoring two quick points. That caused him to back up and reset, which meant I had position, as I had more mat behind me than he did, and on his next strike, I jumped back then performed a spinning kick, which just barely caught him in the side, giving me a 3-0 victory in the first round.

We reset for the second round, and I knew he'd be better prepared, as he'd seen my two best moves. I knew I had to surprise him, and I came up with a plan. I dodged, bobbed, and weaved, but he scored two points using his reach and managed to block my attempt to land another back fist circular strike. Given he was leading 2–0, I was sure he wouldn't expect me to be aggressive, so when he threw his next combination, I dropped to a crouch and swung my right leg in a sweep that caught him just behind the knee, and because he wasn't balanced, I knocked him off his feet for a takedown to win the match.

"KNEE STRIKE!" his coach immediately objected.

"No," the referee said, "her foot was completely behind his leg, and that was legal."

"PROTEST!" he announced.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but instead did what we were supposed to do and knelt at the edge of the mat to wait. Dad came over but had to call Sensei Ichirō to make the ruling because of the father-daughter relationship. Sensei Ichirō asked the referee and both judges, and all three of them agreed. Sensei Ichirō rejected the protest, and I was declared the winner.

Kevin and I bowed to each other, and he followed me off the mat.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "It was a fair strike. My coach is fanatical."

"Mine, too!" I declared.

"Your dad?"

"No. His top student, Miyu, who's here but isn't competing because she's about to have a baby. Maybe you'd like a rematch sometime?"

"That would be cool. What grade are you in?"

I almost groaned because he was a Senior, for sure.

"Freshman," I replied.

"Er, maybe it's not such a hot idea," he said. "I don't want to upset your dad."

"For sparring? I do that all the time with older «karateka». He won't object and wouldn't even object if you asked me out!"

"You're allowed to date?"

I wanted to say that Dad was OK with me wanting to fuck, but given where we were and the fact that I'd just met Kevin, I decided that was a bad idea, and he seemed nice enough I didn't want to scare him away.

"Yes. Despite being 6th Dan and totally serious about karate, Dad is totally cool. Mostly, I go out with a group of friends, guys and girls, but I've gone on some one-on-one dates, too. But I was only asking you to spar at our dōjō!"

"By the University, right?"

"Yes. On Hyde Park Avenue. You can get there by L, Bus, South Shore, or we have a parking lot behind the dōjō if you drive."

"I do, but I don't have a car of my own."

"Let me give you my phone number, and you can call to let me know when you want to come to our dōjō. It could be pretty much any day, either after school or in the evening on weekdays or on a Saturday."

I went over to the table where the kids who kept the scores and standings were sitting, borrowed a pen, then wrote my name and number on a piece of scrap paper and gave it to Kevin. Once I'd done that, we went to watch the other semi-final match, which was between two boys, a brown belt and a black belt. After about a minute of the first round, I was positive which one would eventually win, and I was right, though it took all three rounds.

The boy who won was from Sensei Molly's dōjō, and I had met him a few times but felt he was a jerk who didn't honor karate the way Dad taught. In fact, he was more like a member of Cobra Kai than Miyagi-Dō. Our dōjō was somewhere in between, though Dad's students were very much Miyagi-Dō. The guy was very aggressive and barely defended, which I felt was to my advantage, especially given he was only about two inches taller than me.

"Bust him up!" Ashley smirked.

"You're way cuter than Doctor Pulaski!" I declared. "And unlike Data, I'm going to win by taking the shortest route to victory!"

"Kick him in the nuts?" Ashley asked with a silly smile.

"Against the rules, sadly. He's a dick, though, so anywhere I kick him is like that!"

"I can't believe Sensei Molly lets him be that way," Ashley said. "Sensei Will would never allow it, and Dad would kick him out of the dōjō!"

"Well, Mr. 'Cobra Kai' is going down!"

We were called for the finals, and basically everyone in the gym came to watch. I took my place and stared Alex directly in the eyes, not averting my gaze or blinking. He blinked first and looked away, and at that point, I knew I had him. Reminding myself not to be overconfident, I stepped forward when my name was called. We bowed, and I waited for the referee to call, 'Begin!'.

As soon as the referee's hand moved, I performed a triple combination of two punches and a kick before Alex was even ready. I'd anticipated the command perfectly and caught Alex completely by surprise, scoring two points on the combination. He made a frantic attempt at a double combo, but he wasn't truly set, and his strikes were weak, making them easy to block, and my counterpunch scored the third point to win the round less than twenty seconds after we'd started.

"Bitch!" he mouthed.

I hoped nobody in charge had seen that because I wanted to win by kicking his ass, not by him being disqualified. He got away with it, and when the second round started, he was ready, so I bided my time and let him flail. He managed only one point on six strikes, and on his sixth strike, I counterpunched and caught him square in the solar plexus. It was clear he was winded, and I didn't want the match halted for an injury check, so I quickly followed up with three strikes, landing the second two and winning the match.

He was shocked, but it was his own dumb fault for not taking me seriously. He'd fought better and harder against the boy in the semi-finals, and I was sure he had thought he could take me easily because I was a girl; he was wrong. My hand was raised by the referee, and based on my near-perfect score for my kata, I knew I was under-eighteen champion.

🎤 Steve

"He's undisciplined and violent," I said to Molly after Birgit had thrashed her student.

"I know," Molly admitted. "I've tried everything to convince him that he's taken the wrong approach."

"I hope against hope you aren't going to convene a black belt board for him."

"No, but when I refuse, he'll leave for the independent dōjō in Milwaukee."

"No loss. Did you see what he mouthed to Birgit?"

"No. What?"

"He mouthed 'bitch' after the first round. I let it go because my daughter would take ME out if I'd ended the match for an etiquette violation. You should suspend him. Then let him go whine to Craig in Milwaukee and call YOU that name. They deserve each other."

"You really should challenge Craig to a sparring match," Molly suggested.

"I won't bring dishonor to my dōjō or dishonor my Dan doing that. I need to congratulate my daughter!"

I walked over to where Birgit was standing with her sisters, Kara and the other members of our dōjō.

"Very good, Pumpkin!" I said, holding out my arms.

I gave her a quick hug and kissed her forehead.

"He fought dumb, Dad!" Stephie declared. "I could have beat him, and I don't even have a brown belt!"

"He didn't respect me because I'm a girl," Birgit said. "He called me a bitch."

"He's not wrong," Ashley smirked.

"Careful, Cinderella," I warned.

"Tell me I'm wrong, Dad!" Ashley giggled. "I dare you!"

"Don't you dare, Dad!" Birgit ordered hands on her hips, giving me her patented death stare.

"You are both entitled to your opinions," I replied with a grin.

"Coward!" Jacquelyn teased.

"Discretion is the better part of valor," I replied. "And I know better than to come between those two! But now let's watch the semi-finals and finals for the adults. Jacquelyn, it's all on your shoulders!"

Jolene had lost her quarter-final match, two rounds to one, and the final round 3–2.

"Somebody has to uphold the tradition of three straight!" Miyu declared.

"No pressure at all, right?" Jacquelyn asked with a smile.

"You can do it," Miyu counseled. "Remember what we discussed."

Jacquelyn did indeed win her semi-final match, and although it was close, she lost the finals to a 4th Dan. Given Jacquelyn was only 2nd Dan, that wasn't unexpected. But, despite that loss, our dōjō's focus on kata gave her the overall championship by a single point. Our dōjō took home two of the three trophies, with the college/young-adult trophy going to one of Sensei Ichirō's students.

🎤 Jesse

"You're still planning to come to Rochester for hockey camp next Summer, right?" Scarlett asked as we sat in the sauna together.

"Yes. I'll be goalie coach for the grade school kids and I'll be at my camp. I don't remember if I told you, but Birgit and I are going to Japan in August next year."

"No, you didn't! What's up with that?"

"Birgit is visiting Yuriko, and I'm visiting a friend in Hiroshima."

"Let me guess — a girl."

"Yes. Her name is Akiko, and she was here as an exchange student. She invited me to visit."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how many girls have you been with?"

"Admitting nothing about Akiko, my answer is 'more than one'."

"More than ten?" Scarlett asked.

"More than one," I replied.

"Obviously, given you weren't a virgin when we went to bed together. Are you ashamed of the number?"

"No. It's not something I think anyone should talk about. Would you want me telling people we've slept together?"

"I'm sleeping in your bed with you, so I think it's pretty obvious to everyone here!"

"OK, but that doesn't remove my obligation to respect you and not talk about it with anyone else. One of the biggest problems in society is too many people are too worried about what everyone else is doing. One of the keys to being happy is to NOT do that."

"Who told you that?"

"Nobody, really. I figured it out by watching how other people live and comparing it to how we live, and everyone in my family is much happier and more content than the average person. I admit part of it is being upper-middle class, but I know plenty of families around here who are fundamentally unhappy despite having good incomes. And mostly, it appears it's because they're too worried about what other people do and what other people think.

"I'm absolutely sure you know what society would say about my dad's situation, but they say that about my moms, too, even though they're monogamous and committed for life. They'd have a fit about my brother having a fiancée who is eighteen when he's fifteen and a fit about my dad, my moms, and my aunts allowing us to have overnight guests in our beds. I'm sure they'd have a fit about Birgit and me flying to Japan without an 'adult' despite the fact that we're better able to take care of ourselves than most adults we know!"

"Do you seriously believe that?" Scarlett challenged.

"Don't you?" I countered. "I mean, about Birgit and me? And even though you don't know them very well, Albert and Matthew? Albert flies to England every Summer by himself. Heck, he could fly the plane because he's spent so much time in his simulator! It's only society that prevents us from achieving our potential. We're forced to wait until we're eighteen or twenty-one or even twenty-five to do things; thirty for the US Senate and thirty-five for President."

Scarlett laughed, "I don't think the position of 'Empress of the Universe' has an age requirement in your sister's mind!"

"Which doesn't matter because it only exists in her mind!"

"Your professors are going to either love you or hate you!"

"So, exactly like my teachers at Kenwood Academy!" I declared.

🎤 Steve

"Did you know Commander Shaughnessy was going to let Nicholas fly her plane?" Bethany asked late on Saturday evening, looking very unhappy.

"Did I know? I did not. Did I think it might happen? Yes."

"You should have asked!"

"And you know that I don't interfere with Albert's relationship with Aimee. Whatever happened was between the boys and Aimee."

"I know I'm talking to a brick wall here, but a thirteen-year-old boy taking overnight trips with a thirty-six-year-old woman is not normal!"

"And I'm talking to a brick wall when I say I don't give a fuck about 'normal' or what society thinks. Not to mention, he's been doing that for four years. Do you really think Aimee is going to violate her vows AND the UCMJ and risk literally everything?"

"It wouldn't be the first time someone did something like that. You know that personally."

"Jennie wasn't in the military, wasn't married, and didn't have a child. Come off it!"

"I'm just saying what people might think."

"You mean what YOU might think. Will you stop throwing mud at the wall in the hopes that something will stick? You need to accept that my child-rearing methods actually work, while society is going to Hell in a handbasket! In order for children to grow and develop their potential, they have to be allowed to fail. That's when the real learning opportunities occur, and that prepares them for adult life when everyone fails at something at some time or another.

"The notion that we have to do everything we can to protect children from even the most minuscule harm — emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual — is a recipe for disaster that is playing out before our eyes. Set aside my usual libertarian rant and consider only the damage that does to children who are so protected and so sheltered and who have no privacy. It's a nightmare, Bethany."

"You do realize that basically the entire country, right and left, disagrees with you."

"One sec," I said. "I want to read something to you."

I pulled up a file on my computer.

"You wrote that?"

"No. Frank Zappa did. He also said something I have memorized — 'If you end up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it'."

"I'm not sure we can ever come to an agreement because you won't admit just how dangerous your ideas are."

"Oh, bullshit, Bethany! I know they're dangerous. I embrace them because they're dangerous. You cannot EVER guarantee safety, EVER! Jackie Williams wasn't safe in her own home! Jorge wasn't safe in the passenger seat of a car driven by one of the country's top trauma surgeons! And I don't need to tell you about your OWN encounter with what should have been the safest fucking place on the planet — a US Navy base! So, tell me again, how you plan to keep Nicholas 'safe'?"